World Food Safety Day which is observed annually on June 7, reinforces the vital role of safe and sustainable food practices. Among the many ingredients at the heart of the F&B industry, cocoa emerges a major component in many products, and a commodity with complex safety challenges. Any company knows that from farm and fermentation to processing and distribution, ensuring the integrity of cocoa is essential in safeguarding consumer health. Strict regulations, transparent supply chains, and innovative testing methods are necessary to meet demand for ethically sourced and contamination-free cocoa.
For Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), these are all part of everyday operations. On World Food Safety Day, the company and its stakeholders acknowledge their achievements and engage in discussions on food safety initiatives and future campaigns. We learn more about these from the following interview with Joan O’Shea, Senior Vice President Global for Quality & Food Safety, ofi.
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| Joan O'Shea, Senior Vice President Global for Quality & Food Safety, ofi |
How does ofi
celebrate World Food Safety Day?
At ofi, we put
Quality & Food Safety at the heart of all we do. World food safety day is
no exception, a day in which we spotlight the people at the heart of what we do
– delivering great tasting food and beverages that are safe for customers (food
brands and manufacturers) and their consumers.
The company celebrates
the progress we've made and the areas we're focusing on as we continue
strengthening our food safety culture. Our senior leadership will be in a
global town hall broadcast across the world to emphasize the importance of food
safety. We will also have local activations across our manufacturing facilities
in over 50 countries marking the day with awareness activities. Site-level
celebrations are also then shared across our global intranet to foster
engagement, learnings and alignment across our business.
For the second year running, we have invited customers to
address our teams, emphasizing the common need to build food safety excellence
together from farm to fork. These messages are shared globally and reinforce
what we collectively strive towards: the delight and safety of families around
the world.
Are there new
initiatives that the company can discuss in relation to promoting food safety?
We continue to strengthen our food safety culture through
both technology and people-focused initiatives. We are launching a new global
learning and development platform that allows us to standardize training
modules and ensure consistent application of food safety protocols across all
our facilities.
We’ve also introduced a frontline initiative called “See it,
Say it, Sort it.” Every day, a team will conduct Good Management Practices
(GMP) walks across segments of our factories. These aren’t just compliance
checks, they’re open conversations with frontline employees, offering both
positive reinforcement and constructive feedback. It’s more than about
identifying gaps, it’s about embedding mindfulness and strengthening the
culture of food safety into our daily actions and making quality a lived experience
at every level of the organization.
This year, we will reinforce our daily GMP walks with a
digital monitoring tool – a dashboard view to identify areas for improvement
and scale learnings at the regional and global level. We are also able to trend
the results and target interventions as required.
We have also introduced a global food safety internal audit
program. This is all about driving change from within. We are constantly
identifying opportunities to better improve our ofi food safety Quality
Management System with the aim of preventing any further risks from developing.
Food safety and quality is non-negotiable in our industry,
and we recognize the role we play across our integrated supply chain. We apply
a rigorous, multi-layered approach that spans from farm to fork.
Our facilities follow stringent sanitation controls and
environmental monitoring programs to detect potential contamination risks
before they impact the final product. As required, ofi maintains controlled
environments across our facilities to minimize bacterial growth, including
strict temperature and humidity controls.
We have also been utilizing emerging technologies to refine
our processes. For instance, the team in Koog aan der Zaan, Netherlands
integrated a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) at its laboratory
testing facility. This system automates data capture from processing equipment,
reducing manual entry and enabling more frequent and accurate measurements.
Additionally, we have developed a process that allows us to
use Near-Infrared (NIR) technology to measure key quality parameters of Cocoa.
This significantly reduces analysis time, allowing for more rapid and reliable
data collection. This initiative is now being rolled out globally.
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